


If You Were Beside Me

by BrynTWedge



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Angst, Grief/Mourning, Hurt, M/M, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-19
Updated: 2018-06-19
Packaged: 2019-05-25 07:06:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14971709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrynTWedge/pseuds/BrynTWedge
Summary: Gregory's gone. Mycroft loses the will to continue.Written for the prompt on tumblr:When I can’t sleep at night -I stare at the empty side of my bed,And wonder about the thingsI would tell you,If you were laying next to me.— A.S.





	If You Were Beside Me

_Gone. You’re gone._

Mycroft lay in bed, staring at the emptiness on the other side. 

_How can you be gone?_

He didn’t move. He hadn’t moved since he was told. He just struggled to the bed, and collapsed there. 

_What would I say, if you were there to hear?_

 

Time didn’t matter anymore. Nothing did. There was just the pain, and the empty sheets beside him. He didn’t register much of the world around him anymore. It was inconsequential, anyway. 

_Oh, my Gregory. Why. Why?_

“Mr Holmes… Mycroft…”

_There is no point in responding. In anything. What would you say, dear, if you could see me now?_

“Yes, please come.”

_I don’t even care who else sees what you left behind, Gregory._

 

The pain continued to tear through him, leaving only shredded insides encased in a cold shell.

_The world can fall. You’re not in it anymore, so what is left to protect?_

“How long…?”

“Two days.”

_Days. Seconds. Weeks. Hours. What does it matter? It’s all the same. It’s all just agony._

Mycroft still didn’t move. He still didn’t respond. He didn’t have the strength to even reach out into the darkness where Gregory should be laying. He didn’t react to the poking, the prodding, the way people (Sherlock? Anthea?) tried to force him to move. To continue on. He let them do as they wished, but refused to partake. Refused to swallow. 

_Would you scold me, dear? You were always so kind, but forced care upon me. I loved you for that._

 

“Stop this, Myc.”

_You would have said the same, at some point. I would have taken heed of your words. I won’t hers._

“Mrs Holmes, we need to admit him.”

_No, I don’t want to leave the bed. I don’t want to be further from you, Gregory._

Mycroft put up no fight as the paramedics took him away. He didn’t have the strength or the will. He continued to stare where Gregory would have been, had they been in bed still. 

_Will you come with me?_

 

“…Severely dehydrated… IV fluids…”

_They can do their best to keep the body alive, Gregory, but my soul died with you. My mind is lost without you. Those were the three things you talked of, wasn’t it?_

He didn’t object to the treatment. He wanted to pull the tube out of his nose, but couldn’t find the strength to lift his hand. He just stared out to the side, where Gregory would have been. 

“Enough, Mycroft.” 

_Yes, Mother. Enough. Let me go to him._

 

He still barely could sleep. He wished the dreams were better, an escape from the nightmare, but they were only filled with blackness too. 

_Gregory… I need you. If you were here, would you lay with me?_

“…Concerned.” 

_I know you disapprove. I couldn’t stand it any longer. They’ll put it back in when they see in the morning. I don’t want it._

“… Ridiculous. Sherlock… they didn’t react like…”

_Yes, Mother. Gregory was stronger than I. Everyone is now, but so what? You always told me to care less, Gregory, about their opinions. I wonder if you’d be proud of me now? No. You’d be sad. I’m sorry my love._

Soft strokes on his arm, comforting. 

“…Can’t lose you too, brother.” 

_Oh Sherlock, I’m already gone._

 

_“I leave, and look what you’ve done to yourself.”_

_Gregory? Is that… how?_

He looked about, without moving his head, but saw nothing. A soft whimper escaped. 

_I’m sorry, but you’re not here anymore. I could change, if you were there laying beside me._

_“I am, Myc.”_

Tears flowed. He unfurled his hand into the small space beside him. 

_Don’t leave me. Please._

_“I won’t. Don’t leave me, either, love.”_

_I’m not. I’m trying to follow._

 

He saw him. Silver hair, smile on his face, laying on his side. 

_Gregory?_

_“I’m still here Myc.”_

_Is this all a nightmare?_

_“No, sweetheart. I’m the one that’s not real.”_

_You’re more real to me than anything else._

_“You have to keep going. For me.”_

_Why? No. I have to be with you. Everything else is optional._

His hand touched Mycroft’s cheek. It was warm, like it had always been. Tears kept flowing. 

_“You have to say it now, Myc.”_

_I can’t. Of all the things I want to say, I can’t say that._

_“It’s what you need to say, though.”_

 

He sobbed. Gregory’s hand held his. He knew it was his only chance. He wasn’t ready.

_I won’t see you again, if I do._

_“You won’t see me again either way.”_

_I can still come to you._

_“I can’t stop you. But I don’t want to see you do that, gorgeous. It hurts me to see you wasting away. It hurts that I can’t be there to take care of you. You have to do that for me.”_

_Without you… there’s nothing. I can’t face that emptiness every day._

_“Well, then, do it today. And then I’ll ask you tomorrow. And then the next day.”_

_I can’t get through them all, not even like that._

_“Then just today. Make today the important one. Tell me what you need to, Myc. Please.”_

 

“…Goodbye, Gregory.”


End file.
